By Ryan Brightwell, BankTrack and Zachary Hurwitz, International Rivers, 9 July 2014

When a group of banks came together in January to launch the Green Bond Principles, our immediate concern was that the group’s reluctance to adopt guidelines about what can be considered “green” risked setting the initiative up to fail.

It looks like these fears are closer to being realized, as GDF Suez’s recent green bond issue – the largest green bond so far by a corporation – is reported to be raising money for the controversial Jirau Dam in Brazil, and potentially other damaging projects. Crédit Agricole, the bank which acted as Structuring Advisor and coordinator of the bond issue, and Citi, the deal’s other coordinator, were two of the Green Bond Principles’ four founding partners.Continue reading »